I don't know if the devs read this, but the money sliders don't work on the iPad and, presumably, other touch based devices.
Where can I fly for how much?
71–80 of 110 posts
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#72Built this 3 years ago for Air New Zealand :) http://promos.airnz.co.nz/howfar/
very cool! ANZ rocks! P.S. I'd buy one-way Rarotonga ticket in no time... the problem is, I'm at the other side of the Globe from AKL :)
They do....
I worked for them for 4.5 years as the architect with their Innovations & Ventures team. Very cool place to work.
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#73OMG, I've been waiting for someone to build something like this forever. I've always hated the fact that all major travel sites work based on the assumption that you already know exactly when and where you're going, rather than at least giving you the option to explore your options.
The problem you have is that flight data is incredibly fast-changing and computationally expensive to get. So in order to get enough data for this you need to do a lot of long queries very often. Companies that provide pricing information (like ITA, who Kayak uses) charge a lot for these resources, so it's not like the usual internet where your incremental cost per user or search is minimal: there's a real cost here.…
Yep, that's exactly right. Every metasearch site out there uses essentially the same interface: given an origin, destination, departure date, and arrival date, return a list of itineraries in order of increasing price.
Needless to say, the number of combinations of these variables precludes doing any kind of exhaustive search (especially since you're being charged per query). And availability is constantly changing, so your results are potentially out-of-date the instant you receive them.
Given these restrictions, the only way to support such broad-ranging queries as "where can I go for less than $1000?" is to cache results from previous searches and attempt to guess at the answer. Which is why, when you start narrowing down date ranges and choosing more obscure airports, the results quickly become so sparse as to be useless.
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're travelling in a pair, and you're staying for a reasonable length of time (say, a week) then the hotel cost shouldn't dominate. 7 nights * $100 a night / 2 people is only $350 -- less than the airfare to most places. Besides, saving money on a hotel is mostly a matter of deciding how awful a place you're willing to put up with. You don't get that option with airfares.
Hmm maybe it's just a European thing, you can typically fly most places in Europe/North Africa for for a couple of hundred dollars. Getting to the US isn't much more. Hotels on the other hand tend to be more expensive + hotel tax can be pricey. And you do actually get the awful trade-off with planes in Europe as well, you get budget airlines like Ryan Air which many people don't travel on because they're so bad.
You can go from london to south east asia with AirAsia X for $500 and a decent midrange hotel costs around $20 to $30 a night. Also if your backpacking (hostels) or couchsurfing, it can be quite valuable.
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#75Adioso (YC W'09) does this too - See, for example: http://adioso.com/au/syd-to-anywhere-under-aud350.html http://adioso.com/us/jfk-to-anywhere-under-aud350.html
COMMAND-F "adioso", happy to see it's you :)
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
don't feel dumb, just put it up, add user accounts/Facebook, and make it a group travel planning tool. I could've used something like that while helping plan a bachelor's party.
i probably will, but it just kind of takes the wind out of the sails to know you're half copying something. that spark of "i'm doing something neat" isn't quite there.
You just need to take it to a personal level. Bring it down to Facebook, see what your friends like/shared and generate options saying "Friend A is thinking of Trip B in Timeframe C. Would you like to join in?" or something along those lines.
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
why more useful for your friends?
I think he means it would be useful when used for a geographically distributed group. You could find the cheapest place for a reunion based on total cost of airfares, and split the cost evenly.
noodle, this is a great idea, don't give this up just because there's another competitor in town.
Please ping me if you are interested in pursuing this further. I can link you up to startup that could definitely make use of this to compliment their trip planning service.
bowei [ a t ] cardmunch. c o m
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
why more useful for your friends?
I think he means it would be useful when used for a geographically distributed group. You could find the cheapest place for a reunion based on total cost of airfares, and split the cost evenly.
Sure, just so long as it doesn't tell us all to vacation in Frankfurt airport;)
To put it another way: The results for this kind of query are often going to be the big travel hubs. These may not always be the kind of destination that your users want.
neat idea, anyway.
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#79do they list the airlines somewhere? they dont seem to be listing ryanair for example.
Re: Where can I fly for how much?
#80OMG, I've been waiting for someone to build something like this forever. I've always hated the fact that all major travel sites work based on the assumption that you already know exactly when and where you're going, rather than at least giving you the option to explore your options.
The problem you have is that flight data is incredibly fast-changing and computationally expensive to get. So in order to get enough data for this you need to do a lot of long queries very often. Companies that provide pricing information (like ITA, who Kayak uses) charge a lot for these resources, so it's not like the usual internet where your incremental cost per user or search is minimal: there's a real cost here.…
Yea, I was actually seriously looking into the idea of starting a travel site like that a couple of years ago. But it all basically fell apart once I realized how much it would cost to get the necessary data I'd need.